It's not that motor oil gets bad, it just gets dirty. And the harder you push your engine the dirtier it will get.

 

Consumer Reports did a test on oils a few years back and came to the conclusion you could actually go up to 7,500 miles with no additional engine wear. They didn't find any significant difference in wear between the brands other than Mobil 1 which showed slightly better protection. Still, first change should probably be 3,000 (new engine smoothing out) and stick to 5,000 after that.

 

forgive me, I will admit I am not as knowledgable on a lot of these issues.... but everyone is talking about 3, 4, or 5k miles to change...... but why WOULD you wait that long? Wouldnt it be better safe than soory? It doesnt hurt to go every 3k?

Am I wrong?

 

It doesn't "hurt" to do it every 3K (cept your wallet) but why would you? With today's engine design and the quality of oil there's really no need to. If you read my post above, Consumer Reports did testing and found even 7K produces very little wear or comparable wear to 3K and 5K.

 

Scott, your oil can never be too clean. It's just a matter of cost.

My first change was at 2500. Now I'm on 5000 mile intervals with 5W-20 Royal Purple Synthetic. I'm running synthetic only because I feel the 20W is a little light for what I do and the synthetic can take a little more heat. Non-synthetics in everything else I own.

 

now that makes more sense. Thanks guys

 

I bought my wife a Mercedes couple months ago. With free car wash and oil change.
Mercedes recommends 10-12,000 miles. The car computer will tell us when service is due. Warranty is for 50,000 miles, which will be about the time to trade. Why should I change the oil sooner. I plan on following ford's 5000 mile plan on my new f150.

 

You will want to change the oil at about 1500 miles for the first change regardless of brand of engine. In the oil are different additives, some are anti-wear/ anti-friction, extreme pressure, anti-foaming agents etc. The engine is coming out of the factory basically raw in that there are none of these additives on the internals of the engine. The first oil in the engine will suffer from additive depletion as the motor "plates up". Protection will be compromised. Once it has a coating of these additives you can then go to regular scheduled changes as per manufacturer.